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Games For March

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Want to play the latest high-end PC games on your TV, PC or Mac, instantly? Well, this winter you will be able to. A company called OnLive is trying to change PC gaming as we know it. What is it? It’s a tiny device that streams games straight to you through your broadband internet connection. All you need is the Onlive console and a subscription, then you are ready to play. Which means, no more having to upgrade that pesky PC.

HOW IT WORKS:

OnLive takes the hassle out of PC gaming. All of the action happens elsewhere, OnLive runs the games on their own servers. They handle everything from installation on their own hard drives, drivers, compatibility to, well, you name it. I understand that their hardware is more powerful than any existing console on the market. Every six months they will upgrade to keep up with today’s hardware changes.All of this makes it easier than ever before.

Plug and play

Just plug the OnLive Mini-Console into your TV, PC or Mac and begin playing. Oh, and your broadband connection, this is one of the most important parts. Anyway, playing a game is instant, all you need to do is select the game demo or the full game and that’s it. Downloads are at blazing speeds, OnLive is supposed to be faster than anything that we’ve ever seen before. No more waiting, YAY!

THE HARDWARE:

The OnLive console is small enough to fit in your pocket. Which makes it very easy to take anywhere. It has two USB ports, that will support a keyboard and mouse if you choose, or any controller that you desire. A Micro-USB power in, Video/Audio out, an Ethernet port, S/PDIF optical out and is able to use up to four wireless controllers and four bluetooth headsets. There is also a Wireless pairing button and comes with it’s own wireless gamepad, similar to the Xbox 360’s controller.

The controllers layout is the same as an Xbox 360’s gamepad, as I said before. There is a button that lets you capture Brag Clips, these are clips of your best gaming moments to show off to others. Plus, there are buttons for media controls. The best thing is being able to use your own controller. It says any controller will work, so, I’m guessing that this will include accessible ones too. If not, maybe and hopefully they will install drivers for that device, if yours requires one. They say that the controls work by, “instantly sending your controller actions upstream and the results back downstream at blinding fast speeds”.

I also mentioned being able to use a keyboard and mouse. This gives you even more control options, you should be able to set your own keyboard, mouse and controller mappings.

ACCESSIBILITY:

This new service is not going to make any achievments in accessibily, like the other consoles. You must admit, it is a cool idea. If we can stay on OnLive, I mean bug the heck out of them until they give in, maybe they will design accessible devices for us. Getting them and everyone else to consider accessibility is always a good idea. I will look deeper into the company and get more information. Hopefully, I can get an interview with someone and talk to them about this issue.

CONCLUSION:

I am looking forward to trying it out, the idea is really cool and interesting. The OnLive service looks to be viable and promising. At the moment, there is no pricing information for the OnLive Mini-Console, or, what the monthly subscription is going to cost. We will know later down the road on that. The release date is going to be this Winter, could it be Christmas? Who knows. They haven’t even begun Beta Testing with the public yet. If you would like to try to become a Beta Tester, just go here.